Instructor Class Description

Reading Literary Forms

Covers techniques and practice in reading and enjoying literature in its various forms: poetry, drama, prose fiction, and film. Examines such features of literary meanings as imagery, characterization, narration, and patterning in sound and sense. Offered: AWSp.

Class description

English 200F: Reading Literature (Women, Tradition, and Reform)

Course Introduction:
This class is a very reading and writing intensive course. We will focus on the practice of close reading, particularly as it relates to the historical, political, and cultural contexts of the literature. Students will improve their writing skills with regard to writing about literature and culture, fulfilling the University of Washingtonís W-requirement. It will include 10-15 pages of graded, out-of-class writing, in the form of two 4-6 page papers and three 1-page response papers. The course will also include a small group discussion-led component as well as in-class debates.

Through literary fiction, film, and critical theoretical essays, our readings will explore middle-class womenís effects on shaping reform to the social, political, and religious culture of Victorian England. Readings will be drawn from the works of Charlotte BrontŽ (Jane Eyre), George Eliot (Middlemarch), and Elizabeth Gaskell (Cranford). We will take up questions of imagery/characterization/narrative while comparing the novel as a literary form to sections of the later BBC movie representations. We will also examine how contemporary feminist critics including Deirdre DíAlbertis, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Suzanne Graver, and Elizabeth Langland question the feminism of BrontŽ, Eliot, and Gaskell through their various female characters.

The three required novels are Charlotte BrontŽís Jane Eyre, 1847; Elizabeth Gaskellís Cranford, 1851; and George Eliotís Middlemarch, 1871. All other materials will be available on-line or in the course reader.

Student learning goals

General method of instruction

Recommended preparation

Class assignments and grading

The information above is intended to be helpful in choosing courses. Because the instructor may further develop his/her plans for this course, its characteristics are subject to change without notice. In most cases, the official course syllabus will be distributed on the first day of class.
Last Update by Christina D Wygant
Date: 02/21/2012

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Modified:April 23, 2014